Disney+ and friends are about to hit your wallet harder
If you’re a Disney fan who loves curling up with The Mandalorian, binge-watching Hulu originals, or catching that big game on ESPN, brace yourself. Disney just dropped a bombshell on subscribers: prices are going up—again. Starting October 21, you’ll be paying more for your streaming fix across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN plans and bundles.
Breaking down the price hikes
Let’s talk numbers. The Disney+ plan with ads is climbing by $2, bringing it to $11.99 a month. If you’re part of the “I can’t stand commercials” crew, the no-ads Disney+ Premium option will now set you back $18.99 a month, up from $15.99.
Bundles aren’t safe either. The popular ad-supported combo of Disney+ and Hulu is going from $10.99 to $12.99 monthly. And the big bundle—the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select Bundle Premium—will now cost $29.99, up from $26.99. That means loyal subscribers could be paying up to $36 more a year just for the privilege of keeping their favorite shows and sports in rotation.
A bigger streaming shake-up
Disney insists this is just “part of the company’s regular business process.” Translation: making content is expensive, and Disney wants to stay competitive. But this comes on the heels of other headline-making moves, like the launch of Disney’s new ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service in August. That offering includes an unlimited plan for $29.99 per month, giving viewers access to all ESPN networks, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, and over 47,000 live events annually.
So, while sports fans might cheer, everyday viewers might be wondering how many streaming bills they can juggle before it all feels like cable TV 2.0.
The “Jimmy Kimmel” drama doesn’t help
To make matters spicier, Disney’s price news landed right around the same time as the controversy over Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The show was briefly pulled after Kimmel’s comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk. While the late-night show is set to return, affiliates like Sinclair and Nexstar announced they’d preempt it. Not exactly the kind of distraction Disney needed while rolling out news of higher subscription fees.
The streaming wars are heating up
Disney isn’t the only one asking you to fork over more cash. Netflix raised its prices not long ago, Amazon is expected to hike Prime Video, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max has been tinkering with its tiers, too. Each company is spending billions on original shows, movies, and exclusive deals. The catch? Someone has to pay for it—and that someone is you, the subscriber.
In this crowded market, platforms are consolidating, cracking down on password sharing, or pushing you toward ad-supported tiers. It’s the survival of the fittest, and Disney clearly wants to keep its crown as one of the streaming heavyweights.
What it means for you
For casual subscribers, the extra dollars each month might not sound like much. But stack these hikes across multiple services, and suddenly your “cord-cutting savings” vanish into thin air. Households juggling Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, and maybe even Max or Amazon Prime could easily see streaming bills rival traditional cable again.
Disney hopes its content—Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, ESPN’s sports juggernaut—will be enough to justify the higher costs. The real question is whether subscribers will stick around or hit the cancel button.
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The bottom line
If you’re a die-hard Disney lover, you’ll probably keep paying, grumbling as you do. But the latest price hikes show just how intense the streaming wars have become. Every service wants a bigger slice of your wallet, and no one’s shy about raising the stakes.
So, come October 21, consider this your not-so-magical reminder: the happiest place on screen is about to cost a little more.
